The IFJ is calling on all affiliates to support the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in their fight to have Pakistani newspaper employers pay the long-overdue wages set out in a three-year old wages decision originally handed down on in 2001.
Friday 8 October is the third anniversary of the decision and still the newspaper owners across the country are yet to implement the stipulated wages, while some, mainly regional newspapers, have not even implemented the Sixth Wage Board decision. This is despite repeated calls from the national assembly, provincial assemblies and the PFUJ to do so.
The IFJ is calling on all affiliates and press freedom groups to sign on to two joint letters of action calling on the Pakistan Government to withhold newspaper advertising until the wages are paid and on the newspaper owners to immediately pay the wages. The PFUJ will deliver the letters on Friday 8 October 2004.
The draft letters are attached, and can be viewed at http://www.ifj-asia.org/page/pakistan.html.
To sign on to the letters please send an email to ifj@ifj-asia.org with the name of your organisation and Pakistan as the title or (simply reply to this email) by the end of the business day today. Please send to ifj@ifj-asia.org and copy in ahfazurrahman@hotmail.com.
